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Approximately 2,000 organizations, accredited within the ACCME system, offer relevant, practice-based continuing medical education to more than 24 million health professional participants annually. The ACCME offers a range of resources to support accredited providers.

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The ACCME is committed to supporting high quality, community-based CME for local physicians and health care teams throughout the United States and around the world. Through its recognition process, the ACCME designates state medical societies as accreditors of local CME organizations.

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The ACCME’s network of 20,000 volunteers provides the foundation for the accreditation system. From serving on the ACCME Board of Directors to participating as surveyors in the accreditation review process, to joining local communities' CME committees, volunteers help shape the strategic direction of accredited CME.

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Patients deserve the best-educated doctors. Throughout their careers, accredited continuing medical education offers health care professionals the information, skills, and strategies they need to deliver safe, high-quality care. More than 2,000 organizations offer CME to more than 20 million health professional participants annually.

Standards for Commercial Support

Since its founding in 1981, the ACCME has been committed to continuously improving the quality, validity, and independence of CME in the United States. The 2004 ACCME Standards for Commercial SupportSM: Standards to Ensure Independence in CME Activities (Accreditation Criteria 7–10) are designed to make certain that CME activities are independent and free of commercial bias. The Standards impose stringent restrictions on CME providers’ interactions with drug/device companies and other companies the ACCME defines as a commercial interest. The ACCME allows providers to accept company funding for CME activities, but prohibits any commercial influence, direct or indirect, over CME content.

ACCME Standards for Commercial SupportSM: Standards to Ensure Independence in CME Activities: Building on guidelines that the ACCME first issued in 1987 and formally adopted in 1992, the 2004 ACCME Standards for Commercial Support comprise six Standards: Independence, Resolution of Personal Conflicts of Interest, Appropriate Use of Commercial Support, Appropriate Management of Associated Commercial Promotion, Content and Format without Commercial Bias, and Disclosures Relevant to Potential Commercial Bias.

Among other requirements, the Standards mandate the following:

• All those involved in the development and presentation of CME activities must disclose relevant financial relationships with commercial interests.
• CME planners, providers and faculty who refuse to disclose financial relationships are disqualified from planning or teaching CME activities.
• Accredited CME providers must implement strategies for identifying and resolving conflicts of interest.

When making decisions about implementing the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support, the ACCME says that CME providers must always defer to independence from commercial interests, transparency, and the separation of CME from product promotion. In other words, the purpose of CME must be to serve physicians’ learning and practice needs and to promote public health.

Representatives from industry have asked other health care professions to consider adopting the ACCME Standards to provide a basis for their interactions.

Additional Guidance

Since the release of the Standards for Commercial Support in 2004, the ACCME has worked closely with accredited providers and recognized accreditors as they have adapted their CME programs to comply. The ACCME and accredited providers have worked together to develop strategies that facilitate the appropriate free flow of new information and scientific exchange, while preserving accredited CME’s independence and freedom from commercial influence. The ACCME has provided additional guidance related to specific circumstances in response to questions and concerns expressed by accredited providers and other stakeholders.

One such circumstance is training about medical devices. The Food and Drug Administration sets training requirements for some medical equipment. To facilitate the fulfillment of these requirements and to support accredited providers’ commitment to offering high-quality, independent education about procedures using medical devices, the ACCME offered additional guidance to accredited providers about how to develop procedural CME that is compliant with the Standards for Commercial Support.

In 2010, the ACCME released additional guidance about the role of ACCME-defined commercial interest employees in accredited CME, which outlined the ACCME standards for ensuring independence for CME about discovery and research. This guidance was the result of the ACCME and accredited providers working together and recognizing that there are circumstances where an employee of an ACCME-defined commercial interest can make a scientific presentation within accredited CME about their company’s research and be compliant with the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support. The guidance includes examples of important factors for accredited providers and the ACCME to consider in determining an appropriate role for an employee of an ACCME-defined commercial interest in planning or presenting accredited CME. In response, the ACCME received the following statement:

“We applaud the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s efforts to provide additional guidance for ensuring research independence and a free flow of scientific exchange, while safeguarding accredited CME from commercial influence. Your vigilance in this important matter contributes to the best practices of unbiased information-sharing and will benefit, ultimately, the health of the American public. "— Raynard S. Kington, MD, PhD, Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health